The Christmas Prank Gone Wrong
by creativew0rds
Summary: It's Bella's first Christmas as a Newborn, and the Cullens have a surprise present. Not everyone appreciates it, though...
1. Chapter 1

"Merry Christmas, Bella!"

Alice threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. I hugged back and heard her gasp for air, even though she needed none.

"Alright, alright!" she panted, twisting away. "None of that, Newborn. Get inside, everyone's here!"

Edward took my arm, smiling as Reneesme ran after Alice, eager to see the rest of the Cullens. Or… Maybe it wasn't the Cullens she was so eager to see.

Sure enough, when we got inside, it was clear who she was so happy to be with. After being greeted (no more hugs) from Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper, my eyes were drawn to Jake and Reneesme.

As soon as Jake saw me staring at Reneesme bouncing up and down in his lap, he stood up abruptly and headed towards me, Reneesme clinging to his hand and giggling.

"Merry Christmas, Bella," he said, smiling. I could hear his heart beating faster than normal. It wasn't a secret that Jake still wasn't completely comfortable around vampires, and it showed as I looked into his eyes. Alice soon broke us apart.

"Presents!" she sang, gesturing towards the pile on the piano. Edward pulled me onto his lap as the rest of the Cullens sat down on chairs and Jake lobbed Reneesme onto the couch and then pulled her on top of him as he lay there. I tore my eyes away and looked towards Alice on the ground at the piano.

"You guys know that you shouldn't have gotten me anything," I scolded as I looked around at my family. None of them showed the barest sign of remorse. Jake smirked at my disapproval before wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Ugh, it smells horrible in here," he complained. Reneesme pinched his nose shut and he let out a shriek.

Alice chucked a present at me and I caught it easily. Hey, there were definite perks to this vampire thing.

"That one's from Carlisle and Esme," she explained eagerly as I opened the wrapping paper. Inside laid a delicate silver necklace with a dark stone dangling on the bottom.

"Thank you so much!" I gushed to Carlisle and Esme, who were both smiling. "I hope it didn't cost too much."

Jake's snort was nasal and muffled by Reneesme's fingers. The both burst into silent laughter.

Alice rolled her eyes and tossed another one at me. "That's from Emmett," she told me. "Experiencing any dêga vu?"

I opened the wrapping paper to reveal an empty car radio box.

"Hah!" I exclaimed, throwing it at Emmett. He laughed and snatched it out of the air.

"Well, seeing as you destroyed your last one…"

"That was his fault!" I cried, grinning and jerking a thumb towards Edward. I felt his arms tighten around me momentarily, but then he was laughing too.

"And it's a good thing," he added, "because it saved Emmett from having to try and be creative this year, and we all know how that might have turned out."

Esme hurriedly called off the furniture fight, and Alice handed me a present. "This one is mine," she said, watching my face as I unwrapped the tiny gift. "You do still need it, you know."

I chuckled as I held up the thousand-dollar gift card, and then threw it at her. "Alice, you demon! You spent a thousand dollars on me? How could you?"

She smiled and wagged it in front of my face. "I would have gotten you a car, but Edward convinced me that you love your ancient grandfather of a truck too much."

"We could always make a trade," Edward suggested softly behind me. I grabbed the card back and sighed heavily.

Alice picked up another present and handed it carefully to me. "This one is from Rosalie and Jasper," she announced. I took one look at the huge, jar-shaped gift and turned to stare suspiciously at them. Jasper gave a weak smile, his hand over his nose, and Rosalie winked.

"It's technically for all of us," she admitted, before hurriedly plugging her nose as well. I looked around and saw that all of the Cullens had their noses covered, but they were all definitely grinning behind their hands.

I got an odd feeling about the present that was only intensified when I ripped the paper off and saw the blood-red liquid inside the glass jar.

_Animal blood,_ I realized, and I smiled, exasperated, at the Cullens. Jake was watching warily from the couch, Reneesme's hands both over her own nose now, copying the Cullens.

"You didn't have to," I began, but Carlisle held up a hand. He was the only Cullen with his nose unplugged. My stomach lurched.

"Open the lid, Bella," he told me gently, before shooting Edward a look.

Frowning slightly, I grabbed the lid and pulled it off. The effect was immediate.

Carlisle ran forward to catch the jar as it fell from my lap as I lurched forward. One of Edward's arms wrapped around my waist securely as I lunged for the jar as it fell. The rest of the Cullens pressed their noses and mouths shut and leaned away.

"Bella, Bella. Calm down." Edward's soft voice was in my ear, his cold hand stroking my hair. I felt Reneesme's little hand touching my face, and a cascade of happy memories flowed through my mind, dulling my senses. I leaned back against Edward and focused on not breathing until I heard Carlisle by my side.

"It's alright, now. You can relax."

I sat up and saw that the Cullens were stifling laughter.

"Well," Rosalie chortled. "That was good."

I peered over at her and noticed that she held a video camera in her hand. I groaned and buried my face in my hands.

"Bella?" Edward asked close to my ear. "Are you alright now?"

"Guys…" I looked up at them all. "That wasn't funny!"

"Uh, yeah it was," Emmett retorted. "Come on, Bella, it was a prank. Merry Christmas kind of thing, you know?"

"It was not funny."

We all turned to look at Jake, whose face was tight and pale.

"That is the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed in my life." He turned to Carlisle. "I thought you said you didn't drink human blood! What is this?" Edward made to get up, but I kept him down. Jake pressed his palms into his face and stood there for a moment before looking back at Carlisle. "How did you get that?" he asked weakly.

"From the hospital," Carlisle replied quietly. "I told them that Emmett cut himself badly and needed blood."

"So you stole it."

A low hiss began in Edward's chest, but Carlisle glanced sharply at him. Jake growled and stalked towards the door. He turned as he opened the door.

"Merry Christmas, Bella," he muttered. "Bye, Nessie."

Then he was gone, leaving silence in his wake. Reneesme's face was even paler than usual, and her eyes were wet with tears as she stared at the door.


	2. Thoughts

After a few minutes, the Cullens had recovered, save for Reneesme and I. She curled up on the couch where Jake had been lying, breathing in his scent, while I kept quiet, thinking guiltily about poor Jake. He had braved his natural dislike of vampires to spend his Christmas with me and Reneesme, and how had I repaid him? I should have known. I've seen how Jake acts around blood.

"Bella?"

Edward stroked my hair back from my face and murmured into my ear.

"It's not your fault, love."

"But… Did you see his face?" I sighed. "That probably just ruined his Christmas."

Alice noticed Reneesme and walked over, kneeling in front of her and patting her shoulder. I watched Reneesme look up at Alice and smile a bit, nodding and sitting up. Alice took her hand and they headed outside. The rest of the Cullens were gathered in a circle, replaying the video again and again and laughing. Edward wrapped his arms around me.

"You can't accept responsibility for this, love," he said. "Carlisle should have thought of it, but it was hard for all of us. Alice couldn't see anything until it was too late and Jake had already decided to leave. It's us who decided to give it to you now."

I leaned back against him. "I just wish he hadn't left. I was looking forward to spending this time with him."

Jake never spent time with me nowadays. He'd come over, pick up Reneesme, and they'd spend as much time as possible together. I hated that he was so awkward around me… The one negative aspect of being a vampire was that I had lost Jake along with my human life.

Alice came back in, smiling, and walked over to Edward and I.

"She's with Jake," she told us. Edward frowned and made to get up, but Alice placed a small hand on his shoulder. "Edward," she scolded, "she's happy. She's so, so happy to be with him. Jake won't let her get hurt."

"It's not… I'm not worried about her safety. It's Christmas, and I want her to spend it with us. Her _real _family." Edward frowned and looked at Alice for a moment before sighing heavily. "I guess… For a little while."

Alice beamed and ruffled his hair. "Good boy." Smirking, she dashed over to watch the video as Esme and Carlisle began to lay out more presents. Standing up, I walked over to them.

"Can I help with anything?" I asked, looking at the fast-growing pile of brightly colored packages underneath the enormous tree. Esme smiled and paused in her piling.

"We're almost done, here, Bella, but thank you ever so much for offering. You really are sweet." She hugged me as Carlisle looked at a few gifts lying at his feet.

"What do you think we should do with Jacob's?" he asked, looking at Esme. She knelt down and picked them up, frowning thoughtfully.

"Bella," she began, "if you're looking to help out, you could try and convince Jacob to come back. Be sure to tell him that we meant nothing by it, we weren't thinking about the big picture."

I nodded and headed for the door, Edward on my tail. I turned and placed my hands on his hard chest, looking up at him.

"Maybe this would work out better if you stayed inside, Edward." I continued to look up at him until he sighed, smiling.

"If you insist, Mrs. Cullen," he teased, stepping back.

I rolled my eyes, secretly pleased with the title, and continued outside into the empty, snow-covered yard.

"Jake?" I called, looking around. "Jake, please come here! It's Bella!"

"I know," Jake said, and I turned around quickly and saw him leaning against the side of the house with Reneesme clutching his hand.

"Jake," I breathed. "Jake, I'm so sorry, they didn't mean anything by it!"

He sighed. "I'm not mad, per say. I'm more… Disgusted." He gave a dry snort. "I suppose that's not uncommon nowadays for them."

"Please, come back," I pleaded. "We have presents out." He looked up at me.

"There are presents for me?"

"Yeah," I told him. "There are, and everyone wants you to come back. Please, Jake."

Jake studied my face, but there wasn't any of the old affection he used to show in his eyes as he looked at me. Finally, he turned to Reneesme.

"Do you want me to go back in?" he asked. She smiled and nodded. Jake ruffled her hair and headed for the door, not looking back at me.

I took a deep, unnecessary breath and followed him and Reneesme inside. The Cullens had adopted appropriate looks of sheepishness on their pale faces, but Jake was already snapping at them.

"I know none of you are really sorry," he muttered. "Just don't pretend to be, I might hurl."

Edward's eyes narrowed, but I shot him a warning look and he moved over to me, sliding a strong arm around my shoulders. Esme watched Jake lie on the couch with Reneesme and went to sit near them. The rest of the Cullens followed until we were all gathered around the tree.

"Alright," Carlisle spoke finally, standing. "I'd like to give my presents." He picked up a slender package and handed it to Esme. "To my love, forever."

Esme smiled at him and unwrapped the gift, revealing a delicate silver necklace. She kissed Carlisle and picked up a larger present.

"To Carlisle," she said. "In response to how hard he works, and also because his keep getting worn so fast."

Carlisle opened the present and held up a sturdy new lab coat, laughing. "It's perfect," he said, kissing the top of her head.

Emmett stood then, and went into another room, returning with a big package. Rosalie's eyes lit up, and her bright smile seemed to fill the whole room.

"Emmett!" she cooed. He grinned.

"To Rosalie, whom I know has been wanting one of these darlings forever." He handed her the package and she unwrapped it eagerly, gasping in delight as she unveiled an intricate cage with a delicate yellow canary perched in the middle.

"Oh, Emmett," she breathed, gazing at the bird in admiration. I noticed that Jasper inched away from the bird ever so slightly, and Edward looked up at him.

"Watch yourself," he murmured quietly. Jasper nodded and Alice placed a slender hand on his arm.

Rosalie finally stood and gave Emmett a present, smirking slightly. Edward groaned.

"Rosalie, are you _kidding me_?" She grinned and scolded him.

"Shhh, don't ruin it!"

Emmett tore off the wrapping paper and burst out laughing when he saw the megaphone.

"Rose, you know I don't need this!" he exclaimed. "But…" he looked up deviously. "It'll sure be fun."

The Cullens groaned and Jake raised an eyebrow, looking torn between amusement or irritation.

Suddenly, Edward went rigid, and seconds later, Jake stood up. There was a knock on the door.

Esme made to get up, but Carlisle put a hand on her shoulder and went to the door. Jake followed him.

As Carlisle opened the door, I smelled a faint, but familiar scent. Jake took a breath in and morphed next to Carlisle, becoming a huge wolf. Edward got up, snarling, but I grabbed him. Reneesme ran to Jake, but he shook her off and ran out the door.

I leapt up and followed him, watching as he joined the wolf pack outside. Edward appeared next to me and studied them.

"What do they want, Edward?" Carlisle asked softly.

Edward glanced at Carlisle. "There's been a disturbance on their land," he told him. "They need Jake to come with them."

"What kind of disturbance?" I asked, but Edward didn't respond. The silence caused an icy chill to run down my back, and I found myself searching Jake's eyes for an answer. He looked at me steadily and meaningfully, and something odd happened.

My eyes burned, and there was a dull, thudding pain in my head. I staggered as pictures and voices filled my head.

_"I can't believe there are more—"_

_ "This time we'll really—"_

_ "Jake, what are you—"_

_ "Bella, there are newborns—"_

_ "Stop it, Jake!" _

_ "Get her out!" _

_ "Are you crazy?" _

_ "I said stop!" _

_ "We're going to go fight newborns off of our land, don't worry Bell—"_

The voices cut off sharply and I was left feeling weak, with a ringing in my ears and a splitting headache. I blinked, struggling to shake myself out of the daze, and became aware that I had collapsed. Edward was looking down at me, cradling my head, panic in his eyes.

"Bella, love? Are you alright? What happened?"

I sat up and saw Jake crouching down, snarling at Sam, who was inches from Jake's face. The wolves looked back at me, a certain wariness in their eyes, until Sam barked sharply and they went sprinting off. Jake didn't look back at me, but I watched him leave, marveling.

Had I just heard the wolf pack's thoughts?


End file.
